If I Wasn't a Robinson
by Jake Nickleby
Summary: Wilbur wakes up one morning, only to discover that he is not a member of the Robinson family.
1. Where is Everybody?

Disclaimer: All characters and events related to _Meet the Robinsons_are owned by William Joyce and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

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Chapter One: Where is Everybody?

Wilbur felt the soft, warm bed underneath him- the most wonderful feeling to have in the morning. Slowly, his eyes opened with his vision blurring slightly. Though he could not see properly, he could tell something was different about his room. There was no sunshine filtering through his bedroom window. The only source of light came through the open door at the foot of his bed.

He bolted up, and discovered that there was no window at all in the room. In fact, the room he was in was not the same bedroom as the one he had been living in for his entire life. This room was much smaller, about the size of a walk-in closet. His bed was pushed up against the corner of a windowless wall, and his large desk stood a foot away from the bed, along the same wall as the bed's headboard.

The items littering around the room were indeed his belongings, so he concluded that this was his bedroom. However, it still did not explain how he became to be in this foreign room.

"Mom!" he shouted. His mother came into view through the doorframe with a white, plastic laundry basket in her arms.

"Oh, good. You're up. I've got some clean clothes for you." He stared at her with wide eyes. His mother, Franny looked just the same as he ever did- young and beautiful at the age of forty. Still, something was not right.

"Hey, where is everybody?" Wilbur asked. Franny frowned a bit, and her eyebrows etched with concern.

"Baby, what do you mean?"

"I mean, where's Aunt Billie, and Uncle Gaston, and Dad, and all of them?" She shook her head slightly, and placed the laundry basket at the foot of his bed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, the dark-haired woman put a hand on her son's forehead.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Unsure, the boy answered, "Uh, I'm fine…" He felt her brush some hair out of his face with her slender fingers. "But…" Why was she asking him if he was feeling okay? "Where are they?"

"Where's who?"

"Dad! And the rest of the Robinson family?" Franny shook her head again.

"Wilbur…" she said in a soft, sad voice.

"What? What is it? Did something happen? Something bad?"

"Wilbur…" she repeated in the same soft, sad voice. "You haven't seen your father in almost thirteen years."

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End of Chapter One

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31 August 2007


	2. I Gotta Go

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Chapter Two: I Gotta Go

Wilbur stared at his mother in disbelief. "Wha- B-but _WHY?_"

"Honey, do we have to go over this every time?" Franny asked, placing her hands on either side of her face and began massaging her temples.

"No, because I'm sure that this would be the first time that we're going over it."

"Again, are you sure you're feeling alright? Maybe you should stay home from school today."

"Stop it!" he snapped. Franny recoiled from his outburst. "Just…" he started, his eyes pleading. "What's going on? Nothing makes sense. Why are we here?"

"We live here, Wilbur… We've _been_ living here before you were born. Wilbur, what's up with you?" she asked concernedly, combing his hair with her fingers. "You're not acting like yourself this morning."

"I'm fine, Mom!" Wilbur complained. "I just gotta—"

Then it hit him. The realization hit him just like his bottom hitting the hardwood floor. He paid no attention to the fact that he had fallen out of bed, however, and untangled himself from the sheets. He slowly picked himself up, staring wide-eyed in the distance.

What he was thinking about was so brilliant; he had to declare himself a genius. Whatever incident caused his life to turn out the way it was now had to have occurred obviously sometime in the past, possibly after the time he had met his twelve-year-old father and before the time he was born.

If he could just investigate, find out what had happened, then he could just simply use the time machine to go back to that time and reverse everything back to the way things were suppose to be.

An excited expression lit up his face. "I gotta go to Dad's house! He'll know what to do! He'll—"

"Wilbur!" Franny shouted sharply. "You are to do no such thing! You know perfectly well why you can't do that…"

"No, I don't know! Why are you trying to—"

"Now don't you sass me, boy!" she snapped. Then her stern expression quickly softened. "Wilbur, I'm trying to protect you from getting hurt. Please, don't you dare go to your father's home. When school is over, I want you to come straight home. Do you understand me?"

Wilbur lowered his eyes to the ground and whispered, "Absolutely."

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End of Chapter Two

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3 September 2007


	3. Alphabetically Determined

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Chapter Three: Alphabetically Determined

The thirteen-year-old boy blinked some tired tears back, and he yawned and stretched as he stood in line of the classroom door. He was acting absent-mindedly when a moment later, the teacher unlocked the classroom, and thirty students began filing through the door.

Wilbur sat down in an empty seat, mulling things over. The events that occurred earlier that morning was so peculiar. Why did his mother want him to stay away from his father?

"Ahem," he heard a female voice behind him. Wilbur shifted, and looked up at his classmate, Daphne Franks. "That's my seat," she said plainly.

"I thought we sit alphabetically," Wilbur replied, a little confused.

"Yes…" the girl said, as if she was waiting for him to say more.

"So… alphabetically, you're suppose to be sitting behind me."

"Well," she said, sarcastically, "alphabetically, you're sitting in my seat." With her arm, she swung it around, pointing it towards the back of the classroom. "The R section is that-a-way."

Wilbur paused. Something was… off. "Wait, so my last name isn't Framagucci?"

"Uh, no!" she said, making a weird face. "It's Robinson! Unless…" Daphne's annoyed expression changed to a sympathetic one, and she sat down in the seat behind him.

"Sorry for being so snippy," she said. "Anyway, are you doing okay?" She looked at his face. "You look kind of…" She shrugged, unsure how to put more bluntly. "Pale."

He did? "Um, well, I can't really tell how I'm doing…" he said, scratching his head. "I kinda don't know who I am today." He was mixed up about who he was and what, but one fact had been confirmed. So his last name really was Robinson… That meant Cornelius really was his father.

"Did your mom have you change your name?" she asked.

What a weird thing to ask. "Not that I know of. Why would she do that?" he asked curiously.

"Well, isn't your mom's name Framagucci? She might've wanted to change it so she keep custody of you."

"Keep custody?" Wilbur was baffled. "Why is she worried about that?"

"I don't know…" she said. "Being a single mother, you're all she's got. She probably wouldn't want to lose you. Although your father doesn't seem like the guy that would want to take a kid away from his mother."

By now, Wilbur was really disturbed. He was trapped in what seemed like some sort of parallel universe where he had no idea what his past was like or why it turned out the way it was. Some things were still the same. Like his family, even though it was broken, were the same. And classes and classmates such as Daphne Franks were the same.

The thing that disturbed Wilbur was how much this Daphne Franks knew about him when he did not even know who she was.

"How would you know about that?" he asked defensively.

"Come on, Wilbur," she said flatly. "Stop acting as if we haven't known each other since we were kids. My dad is your mom's manager, after all."

So he was friends with this girl, and he practically had no idea who she was, except for her name and the fact that she was in his class. On the other hand, perhaps he could use this to his advantage. He could ask her questions, getting the truth about his family's past. But before he even got to ask, Daphne said something that shocked him.

Pulling out a handful of cookies wrapped in plastic and ribbon. "I made these for your uncle. I hope he's getting better."

"What happened to my uncle?" Wilbur asked.

"Wilbur," she muttered in a dark, serious tone. "He's in the hospital. He's been homeless for a while. He went missing for a few weeks, then they found him collapsed on the street."

"What?" the boy whispered, stunned.

"Don't you remember any of this?" she asked, confused. "He got evicted from his place, so Franny had him crash on the couch. Then after a while, he unexpectedly took off. Your mother was so upset when he did, and she took it hard when he ended up in the hospital. I'm just glad he's overall okay."

Daphne sighed, getting onto another subject. "And they never did find your uncle Art after he disappeared from his space expedition…" Wilbur was mortified. Is this what the Framagucci family reduced to all because they were not a part of the Robinson clan? He needed answers. Wilbur was determined now.

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End of Chapter Three

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25 September 2007


	4. Meeting the Robinsons

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Chapter Four: Meeting the Robinsons

Wilbur rang the doorbell to his father's house, ignoring the wails of the two identical men hiding inside large flowerpots. He did not care if his mother advised him not to visit the Robinson household. He was going to see his father, and that was that.

The front door opened a bit, and a violet-colored, octopus-like creature peeked out. "Hi," Wilbur said stiffly. "Is… Cornelius Robinson home?" The octopus moaned a response that the boy could not understand. "What?"

"Lefty!" Wilbur heard a voice calling inside the house. "Who's there? Did somebody find my teeth?" An elderly man that Wilbur recognized as Grandpa Bud came into view. Sadly, Wilbur had a suspicion that Bud had no idea who he was, let alone know that he was the man's grandson.

"Hi," said Wilbur, feeling a bit awkward. "Is Cornelius Robinson home?" His grandfather stared at him for a moment.

"No, he's not, but I believe he will be coming home early for dinner tonight. You're welcome to wait for him inside," Grandpa Bud said happily, opening the door wider.

"Uh, that's okay," Wilbur told the man, walking slowly backwards. "I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense!" the toothless man roared, clasping his hand onto the boy's shoulder. "Come! Meet the Robinsons…"

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End of Chapter Four

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25 September 2007


	5. Bittersweet Reunion

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Chapter Five: Bittersweet Reunion

"You know, you look an awful lot like a friend Cornelius used to have…" Grandpa Bud stated, putting a finger to his chin, thinking. "Franny I think her name was…"

"You think I look like a girl?" Wilbur blurted out in shock.

"Huh? Of course not! But her dark hair and brown eyes… It was very much like yours." Wilbur looked away, trying to keep his crestfallen face out of sight.

"Whatever happened to her?" Wilbur wanted to find out anything that anyone would know about his parents and why they had split up, resulting to what was supposedly his life was now.

"Well… I'm not exactly sure… Cornelius loved her very much. Even said he was going to marry her. But I guess they gotten into a fight and Franny said she never wanted to see him again. It left him heartbroken… I suppose there's more to the story, but Cornelius never talked about it, and we never wanted to ask him."

They passed a long hallway with framed family portraits nailed to the wall. Grandpa Bud stopped in front of the pictures, pointing to each one. "These are my brothers, Fritz and Joe. This is Billie, Joe's wife, and this is Petunia, Fritz's wife. Laszlo and Tallulah are Fritz and Petunia's children. My wife, Lucille." He stopped by a painting of himself. "Well, look at this handsome devil here…" Then he carried on to the last family member, "And our son, Cornelius."

Wilbur stared at the photographs. All were similar to the ones in his life as a Robinson. It disturbed him to see the Robinson family without himself, his mother, and his two uncles, Art and Gaston.

Grandpa led him further into the house. Pieces of the house looked, sounded, and even smelled different. In certain places, even such as wall corners, were empty where it was not used to be empty. Wilbur stood still, closing his eyes, listening. He opened his eyes, realizing what was missing. No frog band.

"Come on, Tallou, open up!" Wilbur heard a concerned voice yelling. He turned around the corner to see his second cousin Laszlo. The young, redheaded man had his arms extended, hands gripping a doorframe, and his head hung in exasperation.

"Go away!" came a muffled cry. Wilbur averted his eyes, feeling a pang of guilt inside him. Had four people really made a difference in the others' lives? A little, he thought, but never did he imagine he made this much of a change.

A week ago, he remembered Tallulah showing off a dress she planned to wear for her date at her school's prom night.

"Do the shoes match?" she asked worriedly.

"You look swell," Wilbur answered confidently, with a smile on his face.

He shook his head, clearing his mind of the memory for the time being. He gave a quick glance at Laszlo and the door, hearing Tallulah's faint sobs. His mind wandered back to the memory. Did this have anything to do with the incident he had with her? Was this a result of that non-existent conversation?

He followed Grandpa Bud to the living room. Aunt Billie sat on the floor. Playing with her toy trains. She seemed to be having fun, but he could see hints of boredom and loneliness. She and Gaston were very close pals. Wilbur saw how Gaston's absence had made Billie lose interest in her collection more quickly.

"Din-din is ready!" Grandma Lucille called from the dining room.

"Lucille," Grandpa Bud announced as he and Wilbur waked into the room, his hand clasped to Wilbur's shoulder. "This strapping young man will be joining us for supper!"

"Well aren't you just a cutie pie!" Lucille exclaimed, walking over to the thirteen-year-old, and pinching him on his cheeks. "Come sit!" she said happily, pulling on his arm. She sat him down at the table. "We're having meatloaf."

Wilbur looked around at all of the Robinsons piling into the dining room, sitting down in their seats. They were all chatting happily, and began to pass around the serving bowls of brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes, scooping large portions on white porcelain plates. Even Tallulah seemed to wipe away her tears, and plastered a cheerful face for dinnertime.

Wilbur smiled sadly. It felt good to be with the Robinsons again. Yet the feeling was bittersweet.

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End of Chapter Five

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Author's Notes: In _A Day With Wilbur Robinson_ by William Joyce, Tallulah is Wilbur's sister. And the character we know as Tallulah in the movie is Wilbur's other sister named Blanche. The skyscraping hat and dress she wears is her prom outfit. The quote "Do the shoes match?" came directly from the book. As well as the response "They're swell" was based from the book.

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25 September 2007


	6. Stuck in This Life

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Chapter Six: Stuck in This Life

Wilbur looked around at everyone at the table.

"So, Wilbur…" started Grandpa Bud. "You're a fan of Cornelius' work…"

"Uh…" the boy said, twiddling his thumbs together. "Yes!" This gave him an idea. "My favorite invention is the time machine." He figured he could get some information by bringing up the contraption into the conversation.

Everyone glanced at each other with confused looks on their faces.

"I didn't know he made a time machine," Grandpa Bud muttered to Lucille.

"What's this?" Aunt Billie said, astonished. "Cornelius made a time machine?"

"Maybe it's suppose to be a surprise," Tallulah suggested.

Wilbur's eyebrows narrowed, and his mouth turned into a slight frown. His dad was suppose to have started building the first time machine five years ago, and should have finished the second prototype as well. By now, the family would have known about the invention. Wilbur had to continue to investigate.

"Excuse me," he said. "Uh…" He fidgeted nervously. "May I use the…" Glancing around, he murmured, "bathroom?"

"Why, sure you can, sweetie," Grandma Lucille said, pinching him on the cheek again. "Do you need help finding it?"

"No," Wilbur responded, getting up from his chair. "I'm sure I can manage."

Wilbur hurried out of the dining room, and down the hall. Passing the bathroom, he went up into a travel tube, connecting to the basement. Looking around, he noticed something peculiar… No flying cars, no time machines, nothing. The basement was completely empty. Wilbur went back up the travel tube, and made his way to his father's laboratory.

Wilbur ran up to his father's work desk and began frantically shuffling through the piles of paper that scattered all over the surface. He quickly looked at each document, trying to find answers. Pulling open drawers, he started digging through more records and blueprints.

Grabbing a waste basket underneath the desk, Wilbur emptied out the contents inside. Scattered onto the desktop were birthday cards addressed to him. There was a card for each year he had been alive. Inside each card was an unreadable message, due to water mark stains.

Wilbur let out a fretful sigh. He was getting frustrated about not being able to find any information on the time machines. Closing his eyes, he had to think about _why_ his father started building the time machine, and _how_. What was his inspiration?

"Wilbur…" he heard a voice behind him. He jolted in surprise, and whirled around to see the man he had been waiting to see.

"Dad…" he said softly.

"Wilbur, you shouldn't be here." He was shocked by his father's remark, even though he knew he was invading his father's private quarters.

"Dad, we need to talk," Wilbur tried to reason.

"Your mother wouldn't want you over here," Cornelius said, grabbing Wilbur by the elbow, and started pulling him out the door.

"Dad, will you just listen to me!" Wilbur cried just before they reached the front door of the house.

"Cornelius," Lucille called softly as she and Bud came into the room, the rest of the family slowly emerging from the dining room. "Is everything alright?"

"I…" the man started. "I think it's time for Wilbur to go home."

"Oh, so soon?" she said sadly. "But we were enjoying his company so much."

"I know…" he said. "but he needs to go home."

"Dad…" Wilbur said distressfully. He could hear some of his family members gasp in shock. "Don't you remember? Our adventure that you had all those years ago?"

"Wilbur, go home."

"Dad, I gotta know what happened," Wilbur demanded. "Between you and Mom."

"Go home," he said bluntly, guiding him out the door. "Now."

The door was shut behind him, leaving the boy standing alone outside the front of the house. Wilbur's eyes widened, realizing that he could possibly have been his father's inspiration to build the time machine.

And without Wilbur, there was no time machine. Which meant he never went back in time to meet his pre-teenage father. Which meant he could not go back in time to fix his parent's split.

He was stuck here. In this life. No longer a Robinson.

He hung his head, and held his hands to his face. What was worse, Wilbur now knew what his mother meant by being hurt by his father.

Rejection.

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End of Chapter Six

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28 September 2007


	7. The First and Last Time

For disclaimer on _Meet the Robinsons_, please refer to chapter one.

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Warning: This story mentions sexual content. Please read cautiously if you are sensitive to this type of content.

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Chapter Seven: The First and Last Time

Franny paced back and forth across the apartment's kitchen floor. Her son had not been home for hours. She _told_ that boy not to go over to his father's house. She sat herself down at the kitchen table, remembering the first, and last time she and Wilbur had seen his father.

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Franny seemed to be very pleased with herself. It had not been an easy year for her. Now everything seemed to be falling into place. While raising a child by herself, she managed to have a very successful career- the conductor of her own jazz band.

It was a Friday in the middle of December, and Wilbur had just celebrated his ninth-month birthday a little over a week before. Franny was ecstatic to be working at the hottest jazz club in town. Tonight was her first performance. She and the club manager, David Franks had grown to be very close friends. He allowed Wilbur to join the celebration.

After the first set, Franny went smoozing among her friends, while the manager's wife, Evelyn played with Wilbur at a nearby table.

"Wilbur is so big now!" Evelyn exclaimed. "Daphne only just started learning how to crawl… and here's Wilbur, already standing on his own!"

"Well, Evie, every baby is different," Franny said with a laugh.

"Franny?" she heard a voice called. Turning her head, she saw feathery blonde hair in front of her.

Started, she answered, "Cornelius! It's, uh, pleasure meeting you here…" The thirty-year-old man stared at her with wide eyes. He looked over to the baby boy bouncing on the table.

"Franny, who's that?" She casually looked over her shoulder, and then back at Cornelius.

"He's my son, Wilbur." He continued to stare with wide eyes.

"Who's the father, Franny?" She lowered her eyes to the ground. She knew Cornelius was not really asking. She knew that he already suspected who the father was. "_I'm_ the father…" his voice faltered.

Cornelius grabbed her by the elbow, and pulled her close to him. Lowering his voice, he asked in a mixture of hurt and confusion, "How could you not tell me?"

"Is there a problem, Franny? David asked, stepping in between her and Cornelius.

"No, David. I'm fine," she answered, patting him on the shoulder.

"Oh, alright," David said skeptically. "You should probably be getting back. The second set will start soon."

"I'm sorry, Cornelius," Franny said, a bit frazzled, "but could we talk about this later?"

"No, Franny," his voice cracked. "W-we need to talk about this now."

"Look, Cornelius," she started, wincing a little. "What happened that night was a mistake."

"Oh, so Wilbur was just a mistake?" Cornelius responded, hurt.

"Now don't you even _think_ that!" Franny yelled angrily. She stopped to survey the room. Lowering her voice, she continued, "Wilbur was the best thing to happen between us."

"But obviously you didn't want me to be a part of Wilbur's life."

"Cornelius," she said, walking back to the stage. "This wasn't an easy decision to make, but this is the life I chose for Wilbur."

"Franny, don't you remember anything that night?" she heard the man say softly as she walked. She stopped and slowly turned around.

"Yes…" she whispered, remembering when she ran into him alongside the boardwalk that warm, summer evening. "Yes, I do, Cornelius." She remembered how new and fresh things felt between the two of them after their breakup.

"Don't you remember how much we were in love?" he asked. She remembered how they ended up passionately kissing throughout the night.

"We got caught up in the heat of the moment," Franny argued. She remembered how the morning after, she wrapped herself in nothing but a fluffy, white robe, made a cup of steaming tea, and thought about the drunken night of their messy split. She remembered thinking to herself that she could not go through that kind of pain again, as a boxer-clad Cornelius walked up from behind and kissed her lovingly on the side of her face.

"And that's why I can't be with you anymore." She remembered leaving the hotel room without Cornelius knowing. Then she remembered how she found out that she was pregnant just weeks later.

"Please, Franny, if you don't want me back, then…" He looked at the happy baby, and sighed. "Can I at least see my son?"

Franny slowly, sadly nodded in approval. Cornelius stood back at first, a small smile appeared on his lips. "He looks so much like you…"

"He just learned how to walk last month," she told him. "He's a fast learner. Like you."

"I'll say… Walking at the age of eight months? Very impressive…"

"So…" she started awkwardly, "Yesterday, the nineteenth, was your birthday."

"Yeah…" he said in a whisper.

"Well, happy birthday."

"Thank you," he answered, tears in his eyes.

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Franny jolted out of her seat at the vigorous shaking sound of the knob on the apartment's front door. She stood up, walking over to the door. Slowly, she undid the locks and opened the door. There stood her thirteen-year-old son, with his red, puffy eyes downcast.

"Mom," he said in a quiet, depressed voice. "P-please don't say 'I told you so'." Franny reached out and pulled him into a hug as he clung onto her, and sobbed into her sweater.

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End of Chapter Seven

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30 September 2007


	8. Wanted After All

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Chapter Eight: Wanted After All

Wilbur laid sideways on his bed with his legs slightly bent. His mother sat on the bed with his head in her lap, stroking his hair tenderly. His eyes were red and puffy, and his eyelashes were still wet and sticky with tears. At the moment, he could care less that he was crying.

His father did not want him.

A knock on the front door echoed throughout the apartment. Franny hesitated the moment the first knock was heard, then got up to answer the door. Wilbur remained on his bed as voices murmured from outside his room.

"Wilbur?" he heard the voice called. He raised his head to see his father standing, surrounded by the white doorframe. Wilbur sat up, saying nothing. His eyes locked on the floor, and dared not to gaze at anywhere else.

His father rushed to his side, pulling him into a tight embrace. Wilbur muscles tensed up, but eventually relaxed, letting himself collapse into his father's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Wilbur," the man said as the boy calmed down. "I never stopped loving you. Or your mother." The thirteen-year-old pulled away to look at his father. "There wasn't a day that went by where I wasn't thinking of you."

Cornelius glanced at Franny, then back at his son. "Wilbur, what would think about living with me?" The young teen stared at his father in disbelief. He looked over at his mother, waiting for her approval. She looked at him sadly, and nodded her head faintly.

Wilbur looked back at his dad. "Will Mom stay with us?" Cornelius sighed, and stared at Franny again.

"That's up to your mother…" He stood up and walked over to Franny.

"Franny, you're welcome to come…" He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I-I would like for you to live with me…"

Franny blinked back some tears as she thought carefully about Cornelius' words for several long moments. "For Wilbur, I will," she answered.

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A few weeks later, Wilbur walked up to the enormous Robinson household, with a suitcase in each hand, and his parents by either side of him. He stared up at the house with tears in his eyes. He wished it did not had to end this way, but he was grateful to have his family together again at all.

His father did want him after all.

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Continued in _If I Never Married You_

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1 October 2007


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